I’m not even Jewish (well, my great-grandfather was, and that, mixed with my Greek heritage made never buying retail the 11th Commandment), but it was the klezmer sounds of the clarinet that initially sparked my resurgence in jazz. Guys like Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw essentially to the music out of the shtetl and brought it to the masses. Here, clarinetist Joel Rubin and keyboardist Uri Caine go back to the corner of 52nd St and Mea Shearim on this wonderful duet disc of music that is both celebratory and intimate.

If you have any blood from the Mediterranean (and as we say, I never Mediterranean I didn’t like!), your corpuscles with heat up with passion as Rubin’s licorice stick veers and sings on tunes like “Ahavas Oylam/Eternal Love” and “Yiddish Soldier.” Caine’s keyboard workings are supple in their accompaniment, and meditative when he solos on tunes like “Nigun for Sabbath and Holidays.” Lyrical, cantoral and crying out to the God Most High, this music will stir you up whether you’ve been to the Wailing Wall or Walmart.